Acting SG Forau/WTO Course
Acting SG Forau/WTO Course
6 Aug 2006 22:44:30
OPENING STATEMENT BY MR. PETER FORAU,
ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL, PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT, AT THE WTO/PIFS ADVANCED PROGRAMME FOR SENIOR OFFICIALS ON THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA NEGOTIATION ISSUES FOR PACIFIC ECONOMIES TRADE
9:00 am Monday 7 August 2005, Tanoa Plaza Hotel, Suva
Senior Government Officials,
Messrs Raymmond Krommenknacker and Edwini Kessie, Senior Counsellors and Resource persons from the WTO,
Secretariat Staff
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very pleased to welcome you all to Fiji and to this Regional Advanced Programme on the Doha Development Agenda. This week long course is made possible through a partnership between the WTO and the Forum Secretariat. This is the fifth WTO trade policy course organized to be held in this region under an MOU between the two organizations. I'm certain these programs have been beneficial to those who've had the opportunity to participate in them, many of whom I believe are also here for this program.
2. I note the program for this particular course is quite comprehensive and will, among others, give you an overview of, , the WTO's institutional structure and the decision making process relating to its Agreements. Furthermore, the WTO has a comprehensive set of agreements covering a wide range of sectors such as goods, agriculture, textiles and services as well as disciplines for customs, quarantine, technical standards, subsidies and dumping and so forth, all of which affect us all whether we're members or not. These are complex systems which cannot be understood easily and where good understanding of them is only possible through these sorts of programs. Despite these complexities, understanding these systems is so crucial to trade development in our region which is why it is our hope that after this program, you should be in a better position to understand the principles and application of the various WTO Agreements and be better equipped to advice your governments in your respective areas of work.
3. As part of the capacity-building effort in knowledge-development of the WTO many requirements, the Forum has a six-months rotating attachment program at our Geneva Office. I am happy to see that you will be hearing directly from two trade officials who've participated in the program, Mr Roy Mickey Joy of Vanuatu and Mr Siope Ofa of Tonga. I believe the gentlemen will also be sharing their countries' experience on accession to the WTO. The program started soon after the Office of the Forum Permanent Representative to the WTO became operational in 2004. One of the main activities of the office is to build the capacity of the regions' trade officials on WTO issues. In addition to the six-month Rotating Attachment Programme, our trade Ministers recently endorsed as part of strengthening the human resource needs of the office, the appointment of two trade officials for three years, commencing hopefully in 2007. We believe that these longer appointments will go a long way to develop the capacity of regional trade officials on WTO issues.
5. I must say that it is a rather timely coincidence that the workshop is being held at this time when there is simmering uncertainty about the success of the Doha Round. I know this workshop won't have a bearing at all in changing the fate of the Round, but I believe including the Doha Development Agenda in the discussions is useful to enable the region to understand what the expectations are. The Doha Round, which is commonly referred as the Development Round, was launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001 and was scheduled to be completed by 1 January 2005 but is so far close to two years behind schedule. Recent developments suggest a deal is not possible even by end of this year. Attempts to bring the round to a close have failed and the decision was taken to suspend the negotiations after talks among six major members broke down.
This is a similar pattern to the Uruguay round which stalled largely over differences between the EU and the United States over agriculture. The current impasse relates once again to agriculture, specifically on the issue of market access and domestic support.
6. For the region, the failure to conclude the round is regrettable because along with many other developing countries we have invested heavily into the Doha Agenda in spite of our meager resources. It would be in our interest to see a speedy resumption of the negotiations.. We certainly do not want to see all the hard work, resources and time that we have put into this, go to waste.
7. Notwithstanding these developments, the WTO is recognized as the main rule-setting body on world trade matters and the pervasive reach of its policies affect us all, regardless of whether a country is a member of the WTO or not. It was from that standpoint that Forum Trade Ministers in 1999 endorsed the development to establish a physical presence in Geneva so that the region would be better positioned to frame responses to negotiations taking place in that fora and which directly affects them. While the current impasse at the WTO hinges heavily on the agricultural negotiations, other negotiations had been progressing and through the Small Economies Work Programme, proposals were progressively being submitted by our three WTO members, Fiji, Solomon Islands and PNG, in conjunction with other small vulnerable economies, in on-going negotiations relating to fisheries subsidies disciplines, non-agricultural market access, SPS, TBT and Accession, and on Aid of Trade.
8. I would encourage you all to think of the implications that WTO agreements and issues have for your own country and region. Think of the interests that are being served by them and understand why proposals are being made; or why we have been proposing to change the focus of multilateral trade to accommodate the key interests of the small and vulnerable economies of this world. It is very important for you to understand these in order to fully appreciate why we're doing what we're doing including through courses such as this.
9. On this note I wish to sincerely thank the WTO Secretariat for bringing this course again to the region this year, and you our participants for your attendance. I now have pleasure in declaring the Advanced Programme on the Doha Development Agenda, open.
Forum Secretariat, Suva
4 August 2005
6 Aug 2006 22:44:30
OPENING STATEMENT BY MR. PETER FORAU,
ACTING SECRETARY GENERAL, PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT, AT THE WTO/PIFS ADVANCED PROGRAMME FOR SENIOR OFFICIALS ON THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA NEGOTIATION ISSUES FOR PACIFIC ECONOMIES TRADE
9:00 am Monday 7 August 2005, Tanoa Plaza Hotel, Suva
Senior Government Officials,
Messrs Raymmond Krommenknacker and Edwini Kessie, Senior Counsellors and Resource persons from the WTO,
Secretariat Staff
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very pleased to welcome you all to Fiji and to this Regional Advanced Programme on the Doha Development Agenda. This week long course is made possible through a partnership between the WTO and the Forum Secretariat. This is the fifth WTO trade policy course organized to be held in this region under an MOU between the two organizations. I'm certain these programs have been beneficial to those who've had the opportunity to participate in them, many of whom I believe are also here for this program.
2. I note the program for this particular course is quite comprehensive and will, among others, give you an overview of, , the WTO's institutional structure and the decision making process relating to its Agreements. Furthermore, the WTO has a comprehensive set of agreements covering a wide range of sectors such as goods, agriculture, textiles and services as well as disciplines for customs, quarantine, technical standards, subsidies and dumping and so forth, all of which affect us all whether we're members or not. These are complex systems which cannot be understood easily and where good understanding of them is only possible through these sorts of programs. Despite these complexities, understanding these systems is so crucial to trade development in our region which is why it is our hope that after this program, you should be in a better position to understand the principles and application of the various WTO Agreements and be better equipped to advice your governments in your respective areas of work.
3. As part of the capacity-building effort in knowledge-development of the WTO many requirements, the Forum has a six-months rotating attachment program at our Geneva Office. I am happy to see that you will be hearing directly from two trade officials who've participated in the program, Mr Roy Mickey Joy of Vanuatu and Mr Siope Ofa of Tonga. I believe the gentlemen will also be sharing their countries' experience on accession to the WTO. The program started soon after the Office of the Forum Permanent Representative to the WTO became operational in 2004. One of the main activities of the office is to build the capacity of the regions' trade officials on WTO issues. In addition to the six-month Rotating Attachment Programme, our trade Ministers recently endorsed as part of strengthening the human resource needs of the office, the appointment of two trade officials for three years, commencing hopefully in 2007. We believe that these longer appointments will go a long way to develop the capacity of regional trade officials on WTO issues.
5. I must say that it is a rather timely coincidence that the workshop is being held at this time when there is simmering uncertainty about the success of the Doha Round. I know this workshop won't have a bearing at all in changing the fate of the Round, but I believe including the Doha Development Agenda in the discussions is useful to enable the region to understand what the expectations are. The Doha Round, which is commonly referred as the Development Round, was launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001 and was scheduled to be completed by 1 January 2005 but is so far close to two years behind schedule. Recent developments suggest a deal is not possible even by end of this year. Attempts to bring the round to a close have failed and the decision was taken to suspend the negotiations after talks among six major members broke down.
This is a similar pattern to the Uruguay round which stalled largely over differences between the EU and the United States over agriculture. The current impasse relates once again to agriculture, specifically on the issue of market access and domestic support.
6. For the region, the failure to conclude the round is regrettable because along with many other developing countries we have invested heavily into the Doha Agenda in spite of our meager resources. It would be in our interest to see a speedy resumption of the negotiations.. We certainly do not want to see all the hard work, resources and time that we have put into this, go to waste.
7. Notwithstanding these developments, the WTO is recognized as the main rule-setting body on world trade matters and the pervasive reach of its policies affect us all, regardless of whether a country is a member of the WTO or not. It was from that standpoint that Forum Trade Ministers in 1999 endorsed the development to establish a physical presence in Geneva so that the region would be better positioned to frame responses to negotiations taking place in that fora and which directly affects them. While the current impasse at the WTO hinges heavily on the agricultural negotiations, other negotiations had been progressing and through the Small Economies Work Programme, proposals were progressively being submitted by our three WTO members, Fiji, Solomon Islands and PNG, in conjunction with other small vulnerable economies, in on-going negotiations relating to fisheries subsidies disciplines, non-agricultural market access, SPS, TBT and Accession, and on Aid of Trade.
8. I would encourage you all to think of the implications that WTO agreements and issues have for your own country and region. Think of the interests that are being served by them and understand why proposals are being made; or why we have been proposing to change the focus of multilateral trade to accommodate the key interests of the small and vulnerable economies of this world. It is very important for you to understand these in order to fully appreciate why we're doing what we're doing including through courses such as this.
9. On this note I wish to sincerely thank the WTO Secretariat for bringing this course again to the region this year, and you our participants for your attendance. I now have pleasure in declaring the Advanced Programme on the Doha Development Agenda, open.
Forum Secretariat, Suva
4 August 2005
